Friday, February 29, 2008

MORE (ON) BUSH: A DUMMY WHO GETS DUMBER AND DUMBER

I haven't made UP the following conversation.

It really is the Long War President speaking.

The Decider is once again exposing to the world the contents of his mind.

The last sentence will blow your mind.

George W. Bush: And as people are now beginning to see, Iraq is changing, democracy is beginning to tak[e] hold. And I'm convinced 50 years from now people look back and say thank God there was those who were willing to sacrifice.

Ann Curry: But you're saying you're going to have to carry that burden... Some Americans believe that they feel they're carrying the burden because of this economy.

They say -- they say they're suffering because of this.

George W. Bush: I don't agree with that.

Ann Curry: You don't agree with that? Has nothing do with the economy, the war? The spending on the war?

George W. Bush: I don't think so. I think actually, the spending on the war might help with jobs.

Ann Curry: Oh, yeah?

George W. Bush: Yeah, because we're buying equipment, and people are working. I think this economy is down because we built too many houses.

[From

NBC's The Today Show

February 18, 2008]


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

McCain, who voted to go into Iraq and said it was "important" to do so, does not seem to have noticed that the price tag for it and Afghanistan is rapidly rising to $3 trillion to $5 trillion over the long term, or $10,000 for each man, woman and child in America. For a family of four, that is $40,000 or a whole year's salary that George W. Bush has stolen from us and given to his friends at Halliburton, Hunt Oil, Exxon Mobile, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Electric, etc., etc., etc. (See Tom Engelhardt on this and other morsels in Bush's Mulligatawny Soup of a war). Not to mention the nearly 4,000 killed in action and the thousands seriously wounded, with brain trauma, spinal injuries, confined to wheel chairs or forever impaired, who will need to be taken care of the rest of their lives (and guess to which address the bill will come-- not Crawford, Texas.) Is the war really unrelated to the growing bad times in the US economy?

FROM

Informed Comment

Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Friday, February 29, 2008


Thursday, February 28, 2008

WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY




I have always enjoyed listening to Dick Cavett and William F. Buckley speak.
I first wrote "enjoyed watching", but then I remembered just how painful it was, sometimes, to watch Mr. Buckley speak when he got bug-eyed and writhed his tongue like some hungry serpent.
But, then, that was what fascinated me.
Also, William F. Buckley spoke about ordinary matters in extraordinary ways.
I am trying to think of the right words to describe his speaking style.
He decorated ideas not just with a white and chocolate (or whatever flavor you choose) frosting, but he embellished them with colorful and imaginative verbal sprinkles that astonished mind and imagination.
I liked how he said something more than what he said.
Sometimes I said to myself,
"I don't know what the hell he just said, but it sure sounded good."
Then there were those captivating pauses and stutters of Mr. Buckley's which were just as fascinating as his words and facial gesticulations.
One year I subscribed to The National Review the same year that I subscribed to In These Times and, if I recall correctly, The New Yorker and The Nation, and a few others.
It was this same year that I was mailed ("out of the blue") information by the John Birch Society.
We have lost some very good wordsmiths.
Mailer.
Vonnegut.
And now
William F. Buckley.
May they continue their colorful conversations wherever they find themselves.



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

SANDRA GWENDOLYN AND B.B. KING



I had already graduated and gotten my B.A. in English.
I taught for one semester in a small Colorado town, but racial tensions in the school (parents were bringing guns to school and other violent acts were occurring) made me quit before the first semester was over.
I took my last pay check and used it to rent a one-room cottage in the mountains.

I read a lot, burned incense, and listened to Cat Stevens.

When my money ran out I worked on the back of a garbage truck.
It was hard work, but it paid well for only six hours of labor, and I usually finished by 1:00 P.M.

After a few months I retired and became a landscaper.

I moved out of my mountain retreat and rented a "garden" apartment in a three-story building that had two other apartments.

Directly above my apartment was a single mom who lived with her son.
She was an actress, and sometimes the ruckus got a little loud above, but most of the time it was pretty quiet.

Sandra and Gwendolyn shared an apartment on the third story.

I forget how I met both of them, but it was probably just some casual encounter.

Sandy was a theater/dance student, and I think Gwen was a psychology major.

Sandy was petite and thin.

Gwen had more meat on her bones.

Neither was beautiful, but neither was ugly either.

I flirted with both, but I called Sandy "my lady".
(Actually, I said "me lady", and made myself sound more English than American.)

I didn't love Sandra in Love's deepest sense, but I was fond of her.

I was wooing her, but to what end I did not know.

There was no physical attraction, infatuation, or lust.

Sandy’s skin color was turning orange from eating so many carrots.
She seemed to always have a carrot in her hand.
I guess she didn’t want to add too many ounces to her tiny torso.
I could have called her Bugs Bunny, but that thought never crossed my mind.

Gwen was more omnivorous and less fastidious about what she ate.
Her body was also more curvaceous.

I had just ended a relationship with a young woman, and so
I was in no hurry to jump back into the saddle.
Gwen and Sandy were my lady friends and not girlfriends.

This was the time when I had my cat Frieda.
Frieda spent a lot of her time ascending the apartment building’s wooden stairs to visit my friends on the third floor.
And so did I.
I always felt that I was being treated like royalty.
Sandy was a superb host.
She made me feel rich in both body and soul.

Sandy, Gwen and I went to Aspen one weekend (when the Aspen trees were spinning their golden leaves).
Sandy drove her blue Volvo.
We rented a motel room.
Gwen and Sandy slept in the only bed, and I slept on the floor.
I joked that I would sleep between them, but didn’t.

We went to hear B.B. King perform that night.
I walked up and stood beside the stage, and was only a few feet away from B.B. King.
But what had me mesmerized (besides King’s masterful guitar playing) was his harmonica player just an elbow away from where I stood.
And there he stood, his body swaying back and forth, his harmonica in his hands, which were also moving back and forth to his face, and the harmonica never quite getting to his mouth.
I wondered to myself, “Can he even play? He looks drunk.”I think he was intoxicated.
His mouth finally made contact with his harmonica.
MAN COULD HE EVER PLAY THAT HARMONICA!

After the concert, I took Sandy for rides on my back in the park.
And we played hide and seek.

Not much happened after our weekend excursion.
I saw Sandy and Gwen less and less.
Sandy was spending most of her time with a theater director.
I think his name was Michael.

I do remember my last goodbye to Sandy (or rather hers to me).
She simply said, “Take care of your heart.”
I have tried, Sandy, I have tried.Postscript:Two other memories:
Sandy gave me a beautiful print for my birthday which I keep next to my computer here at the high school where I teach.
It is called THE HINDOO MAIDEN. On the back of it is an excerpt from an e.e. cummings poem.
I gave Sandy the original of my poem called
BAGGY POCKETS.
It was written with purple ink from a fountain pen.
I hope she still has my poem.
I wish I knew where Sandy was today.



Baggy Pockets


The ocean roars like a mad god
Who has slammed a sandy door on man
The waves rush across my mind
And I look upon the
ocean floor:
Diamonds inside buried treasures from chests of
ancient lore.
A golden ring and a crown of a king
Inside a toy jukebox that makes me sing
A silk handkerchief once inside a pirate's pocket
Now beside a modern rocket
With Jesus' cross all rusted and cracked
Does Santa have a new one packed?
Skeletons of drunk Norsemen with their insane swords
Still shining and ready to use in today's cancerous wars
Sipping mead with a few Greek gods from the Peloponnesian war
And at Gawain's side sits young David, shaking on Goliath's shoulders
Looking at Columbus who has just landed for a second time
To come and take America back to the Indian's fort
But like Robin Hood in a TV commercial
Columbus sells his act for a profit
To keep making crazy rockets and keep filling baggy pockets
With silver, platinum, and gold.



NOTE:
 I wrote this poem in the early 70's when I was in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.



IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!








Tuesday, February 26, 2008

HILLARY AND HARA-KIRI


schiz·o·phre·ni·a.

That's a mouthful.

And a brainful.

But no other word will do to describe the extreme and splitting change in tone and substance of Hillary Clinton's recent descriptions of Barack Obama.

The other night Mrs. Clinton was oozing unctuous paeans while holding Mr. Obama's hand.

Now?

The mellow madam has become a maddened woman.

Commendation has become condemnation.

It’s true that the streets of politics are paved with shame.

It's scary.

It's pathetic.

To get our attention and to win the nomination (so her campaign handlers might think), Hillary must now scratch her nails on the blackboard and scrape her shoes on the hard floor.

BARACK OBAMA YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!

A mother who behaved like this might be due for an appointment with

some overpaid psychologist.

Talking tough and being rough is not going to work.

Hillary can grow hair on her face, but it won't win over the American people.

Macho screaming is appropriate for a woman wrestler, but not for a future American president...

Man…

Woman...

Black…

OR

White!



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Monday, February 25, 2008

BILLION DOLLAR BABIES

"At this point, buying the United States isn't looking like such a good investment," the adviser said. "At the end of the day, Mike might be better off buying Canada."
An adviser to Mayor Bloomberg

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who might launch his own independent presidential bid, on Monday defended Ralph Nader's right to seek the White House.

"This business of Ralph Nader being a spoiler — you know, in any three-way race, two of the three are going to be spoilers," Bloomberg said. "Come on. Everybody's got a right to do it — you're not spoiling anything."

"If people want to vote for you, let them vote for you, and why shouldn't they?" he added.

The billionaire mayor denies he is exploring his own presidential bid, but aides and operatives have been working behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for an independent campaign.

Without the need to raise money, Bloomberg has been able to delay a decision much longer than most candidates.

Many Bloomberg watchers have been eyeing March 5 — next Wednesday — as a key date in his timetable because it is the first day that he would be able to start a petition drive to get on the ballot in Texas, which has one of the earliest deadlines and some of the toughest requirements for independents.
2/25/08



Maybe New York mayor Mike Bloomberg will raise the ceiling of campaign spending sky-high and out-of-this-world by spending billions and billions.

Ralph Nader is a green candidate but he won't take any green(backs) from corporate entities.

Will Mr. Bloomberg buy the 2008 presidency?

Start making your bets now.

IT’S THE OIL STUPID!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

HOT DOGS THE MOON AND RALPH NADER

I admire Ralph Nader.

He has done a lot to make the environment cleaner and automobiles safer.

But I sure wish that he would stop running for president.

The Ralph Nader line that has stuck in my memory is "Going to the moon is safer than eating a hot dog", or maybe it's "Eating a hot dog is more dangerous than going to the moon."

I still eat hot dogs.

I haven’t gone to the moon.

Mr. Nader is critical of the corporate state and its wasteful machinations.

I applaud him for these criticisms.

But he should retire from the presidential stage.

Nader is a superb gadfly.

He should remain as one.

The likelihood that Mr. Nader can win the 2008 presidential election is as likely that I can ever go to the moon.

This time Ralph Nader should drop out of the race for the White House.

He is older than John McCain.

Drop out so that Mrs. Clinton or Barack Obama can win the race.

Mr. Nader will make the race unsafe at any speed.

He might help put McCain in the driver's seat.



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

REMEMBRANCE OF McCain's PAST

John McCain remains stoic, serious and sober about the New York Times article ["The Long Run:
For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk"/By JIM RUTENBERG, MARILYN W. THOMPSON, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and STEPHEN LABATON
February 21, 2008]
Irony of ironies is that this article has increased contributions to McCain's campaign to be the next U.S. president.
First impressions, however, are lasting ones.
There is a simian on McCain's fundament regardless of his innocence or whether he wants to ignore the article.
Little by little a river grows.
To allege that the
NYT went ahead and published this article in order to smear McCain's run for the presidency is not without truth.
But so what?
FOX News (or FAKE-FAUX News) has been ensconced in Bush's saddle before and after the Decider's selection by the Supreme Court to be our Divider & Liar-in-Chief.
FOX News was Bush's and the GOP'S cheerleader before and after his deceitful invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Bill O'Reilly is the lyncher-in-chief at FOX News.
The Free Press is called the Fourth Estate for a good reason, and the
New York Times or any other portion of the Fourth Estate has the privilege and moral duty to report that which can help citizens to make the best-informed decisions about whom they vote into office.
Whether we like IT or not.
Especially for the Office of President of the United States.
Finally, there will no doubt be attempts to foul and smear Mr. Obama's or Mrs. Clinton's candidacy and legitimacy before the election.
Make sure your sh** detectors are on.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Q & A


Style is the dress of thoughts.
Lord Chesterfield


Which is more important in a presidential campaign: style or substance?


Naturally, the answer is that both style and substance are quite important.

Mrs. Clinton's hair style, however, is not as important as her ideas (although the style of her hair changes a lot.)

Does this affect her substance?

Not really.

Obama does have style in his ability to speak.

But this speaking ability is not just about style.

The style also affects substance.

The style and substance of a candidate's words are very important to indicate what each might be like as our president.

Keep your ears, eyes and minds open!


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!



Tuesday, February 19, 2008

MORE (ON) BUSH

I feel at great pain when the spotlight is on the death of 4,000 American soldiers, while 600,000 Iraqi deaths are ignored. War is not a movie; it is a tragedy of dead bodies, victims, the disabled, orphans, widows and the displaced.

I feel sad when I realize how much truth is being changed or obscured in the American media.

Sharon Stone

February 18, 2008



You know, history, it's just, it, I, I've always felt that there needs to be a long leash to history. That you can't judge a administration, immediately. And, particularly one that has pushed hard for some big ideas, like, like, my administration has done.
George W. Bush




I had not heard or read these Bush lines before, or if I had, they had not imprinted on my memory.

Before I continue, here’s a small bonus---a short READING BETWEEN THE LINES for the above Bush lines:




You know, history, it's just, it, I, I've always felt that there needs to be a long leash to history [AND TO MAD DOGS LIKE ME].

That you can't judge a administration, immediately.

[THOUGH GOD CAN].

And, particularly one that has pushed hard [LIKE A CRAZY DRUG ADDICT] for some big [DUMB] ideas, like, like, my administration has done.

George W. Bush




But what I had not remembered---or read--- or heard---made me think of these

NEOLOGISMS

For

Bushisms:



Dumbisms.

Moronisms.

Idiotisms.

Asininisms.

Stupidisms.





What a bad president.

What a mad president.

What a pathetic presidency.



Why would anyone embrace George W. Bush?

How could anyone embrace George W. Bush after he unleashed this terrible and unnecessary war?



This genocide that was made in the name of democracy



This genocide that was perpetrated (and now is perpetuated) in the name of spreading freedom…

And all of the other words that are used to Justify

This

Debacle

of

Death and Destruction.



American voters are not ready to embrace McCain.



America is not ready to embrace McCain’s continuation of Bush’s

UNHOLY

MESS!



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Monday, February 18, 2008

WHERE'S THE BEEF?



Hortencia: Gloria, you don't look good.
Gloria: Neither do you Hortencia.
Hortencia: It's my legs. They feel wobbly. My gout's acting up.
Gloria: You need a veterinarian to take a look at them.
Hortencia: Right. But maybe if I'm having trouble with my legs I won't be slaughtered.
Gloria: I don't know about that. I'm scheduled to "get the ax" next week, and I've been having trouble breathing.
Hortencia: I guess we fatted calves are destined to be killed and eaten by humans in order to make them merry.
Gloria: That's the udder truth!



The U.S. government on Sunday ordered the largest beef recall in U.S. history — 143.4 million pounds — and said the meat has been used in school lunches and food assistance programs.
The government portrayed the action as precautionary and classified it as a Class II recall, meaning there is little likelihood of illness.
The beef dates to cattle slaughtered two years ago, starting Feb. 1, 2006, at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing, based in Chino, Calif. The USDA said it believes most already has been eaten. It will remove the rest from inventories.
"We don't know exactly where all the product went" but will "cast a wide net to make sure that we can find all the product that we can find," Ken Petersen at the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a conference call with reporters Sunday.

The meatpacker is accused of improperly slaughtering what are called "downer" cattle — those unable to walk to slaughter.
Such cattle raise the fear of mad cow disease and are more likely to carry E. coli and salmonella bacteria because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.
The government said it had inspectors present "continuously" at the plant, as is standard procedure.
Even so, the use of downer cattle was brought to light by the Humane Society of the United States, which published a video last month it said was made by an undercover worker at Hallmark/Westland. The video shows cattle lying on the ground being moved by forklifts and being chained and pulled.
In a statement Sunday, the Humane Society said, "A recall of this staggering scale proves that it's past time for Congress and the USDA to strengthen our laws for the sake of people and animals."


USA TODAY
2/18/08



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

THE PRESIDENT HAS NO MORE FUZZ ON HIS PEACH AND HE SHOULD BE IMPEACHED


Joseph P. Nacchio, former CEO of Qwest Communications International, reported that his firm was approached more than six months before the September 11, 2001, attacks and asked to participate in a spying operation that Qwest believed to be illegal.
The essential hardware elements of a (Total Information Awareness)-type spy program are being surreptitiously slipped into 'real world' telecommunications offices.
 
There may be dozens of surveillance rooms in AT&T offices around the country.
The internet surveillance program covers domestic traffic, not just international traffic.
The system is capable of looking at content, not just addresses. The Narus software exists primarily to conduct sophisticated rule-based analysis of content.

Transit traffic originating with one ISP and destined for another is also being sniffed if it crosses AT&T's network. Ironically, because the taps are installed at the point at which that network connects to the rest of the world, the safest web surfers are AT&T subscribers visiting websites hosted on AT&T's network. Their traffic doesn't pass through the splitters.
 
Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency...
Keith Olbermann on his Countdown program (2-14-8) said that all of the nasty pictures--all of the Internet sites---all of the emails---
EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE
THAT YOU HAVE EVER VISITED ON YOUR COMPUTER
HAS BEEN MONITORED
IN Room 641A.
YOU HAVE BEEN SLEEPING
WITH THE ENEMY!
George W. Bush
HAS BEEN MORE THAN JUST
THE DECIDER
THE DIVIDER
THE DECEIVER
AND
THE TORTURER
(and not just a torturer of the English language)...
The LONG WAR PRESIDENT
HAS ALSO BEEN
THE SNOOPER!
 

[NOTE: It appears that President Obama has continued the same SURVEILLANCE practices.]
 

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

Friday, February 15, 2008

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS


GOOD NEWS: President George W. Bush has decided to have the Navy shoot down a disabled 5,000-pound (2,270 kg) minivan-sized spy satellite satellite with a modified tactical missile before it enters the earth's atmosphere.

BAD NEWS: Dick Cheney is on the tactical missile with his shotgun.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

TOE NAILS FISHING LINES AND SKEETER



Uncle Phil (one of my dad’s brothers or maybe one of my dad's dad's brothers)(was this last grammatically correct?) used to take me fishing with him.
We went to Berkeley Lake (the same lake where my high school cross-country team ran.)

Uncle Phil and I always sat on the same little pier.
I remember that this lake had mostly fish called crappies.
“Boy”, I’d say to myself,
“Who would want to eat fish called crappies?”And so I never ate any.
I just remember that they had a lot of shiny and slimy scales.
Uncle Phil didn’t catch very many.

It seemed like most of the time I was untangling Uncle Phil’s fishing line.
Dozens and dozens of little knots.
I took pride in my detangling dexterity.
Uncle Phil always gave me a big smile when I had finished untying those nasty knots.

Uncle Phil had long and yellow toenails.
It looked as if he smoked with his feet.
When I looked at Uncle Phil's lengthy toe nails, I wondered whether they would continue to grow when he passed away.

Uncle Phil had a Chihuahua named Skeeter.
He was big and friendly, but his hair was everywhere.

Aunt Marge was Uncle Phil’s wife.
She cooked plump, fruit-filled pastries.
I have never eaten any as delicious as these.
Aunt Marge always had some for us kids to eat.

My parents didn’t visit Uncle Phil and Aunt Marge very often, so our visits became that much more meaningful.
I had a happy childhood.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND OIL! 

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

CONSPIRACY?



"By way of deception, thou shalt do war"

Motto of the Mossad

"Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty."

George W. Bush
At the United Nations

November 11, 2001





Why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page?
"The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11."
Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI

"I was not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States nor did I have knowledge of the attacks. There exists a government within a government within the United States. The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself; to the people who want to make the present century a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity. That secret government must be asked as to who carried out the attacks. ... The American system is totally in control of the Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States."

Bin Laden

On the day of the 9-11 attacks, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked what the attacks would mean for US-Israeli relations. His quick reply was:


"It's very good…….Well, it's not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy (for Israel)"

A Mossad surveillance team made quite a public spectacle of themselves on 9-11:
The New York Times reported Thursday that a group of five men had set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack on Tuesday, and were seen congratulating one another afterwards.

White, 2000 Chevrolet van with 'Urban Moving Systems' sign on back seen at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ, at the time of first impact of jetliner into World Trade Center Three individuals with van were seen celebrating after initial impact and subsequent explosion. FBI Newark Field Office requests that, if the van is located, hold for prints and detain individuals.



"We are Israelis. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are your problem."
Sivan Kurzberg/THE DRIVER OF THE VAN


The police and FBI field agents became very suspicious when they found maps of the city with certain places highlighted, box cutters (the same items that the hijackers supposedly used), $4700 cash stuffed in a sock, and foreign passports. Police also told the Bergen Record that bomb sniffing dogs were brought to the van and that they reacted as if they had smelled explosives.

The Jewish weekly The Forward reported that the FBI finally concluded that at least two of the detained Israelis were agents working for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and that Urban Moving Systems, the ostensible employer of the five Israelis, was a front operation. This was confirmed by two former CIA officers, and they noted that movers' vans are a common intelligence cover. The Israelis were held in custody for 71 days before being quietly released.
"There was no question but that [the order to close down the investigation] came from the White House. It was immediately assumed at CIA headquarters that this basically was going to be a cover-up so that the Israelis would not be implicated in any way in 9/11."


"I think there is very compelling evidence that at least some of the terrorists were assisted not just in financing -- although that was part of it -- by a sovereign foreign government ... It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now."
Senator Bob Graham.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!














Tuesday, February 12, 2008

LIES LIARS AND ZOMBIES



If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you. As our coalition takes away their power, we will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In a free Iraq, there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms. The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.
George W. Bush/March 17, 2003


The question in my mind is: How many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is: Not very damned many.

Dick Cheney/1992


Saddam Hussein has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.
Colin Powell/February 2001


Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
Dick Cheney/ speech to VFW National Convention/Aug. 26, 2002


We are able to keep his [Saddam Hussein's] arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.

Condoleezza Rice/July 2001


I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.
Donald Rumsfeld/Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense hearing/May 14, 2003
We believe [Saddam Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.
Dick Cheney/NBC's Meet the Press/March 16, 2003


We never believed that we’d just tumble over weapons of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld


The danger to our country is grave. The danger to our country is growing.
George W. Bush/October 5, 2002


With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help.
Colonel Nathan Sassaman/December 6, 2003


I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied either.
George W. Bush/April 13, 2004
I know what I’m doing when it comes to winning this war.
George W. Bush/August 11, 2004


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!




Monday, February 11, 2008

Q & A

How will President Bush's support affect John McCain's candidacy?


The Liar-in-Chief's support of John McCain will infect McCain's candidacy.
That's how it will affect it.
The Iraq War surge was an excuse to continue the American occupation.
The American people are fed up with this war, fed up with this War president, and the very last thing that they want is ANOTHER WAR PRESIDENT.
McCain is not going to win, and Bush's support will make sure of that.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!



What a total crock of ignorance and deception the Bush regime represents. Bush, defeated in Iraq, defeated in Afghanistan, with Pakistan crumbling in front of his eyes, is now reduced to begging the French, whom it was such grand sport for his neocon officials to denigrate, to send soldiers to save his ass in Afghanistan.
What a laughing stock Bush has made of America. What ruination this utter idiot and his supporters have brought to America. What total traitors the neoconservatives are. Every last one of them should be immediately arrested for high treason. Neonconservatives are America's greatest enemies, and they control our government! All Americans have to show for six years of Bush's "war on terror" is an incipient police state.
Now standing in the wings is mad John "hundred year war" McCain. Will the American electorate wipe out the Republican Party before this insane party wipes out America?

[From http://counterpunch.com/

Bush Calls on France for Help
War Without End

2/11/08
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS]

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan's first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com


Sunday, February 10, 2008

CHEESEBURGERS DOOMSDAY AND GLOBAL WARMING


I just did my part to advance Global Warming.
I had a big dinner at a giant Chinese buffet.

I got there by spewing Carbon (and whatever else) out of my six-cylinder Ford truck.

I am back home now and watching (mostly listening to) Six Degrees Could Change the World on the National Geographic channel.

I don’t know how much pollution my flat-screen TV is producing, or for that matter how much stinking carbon my computer is producing.
Nor do I have too many pangs of guilt.

It’s been a mild winter here in the Southwest where I live.
Fine and dandy, but I don’t look forward to the high temperatures which may occur this summer.

Some people believe that humans are producing Global Warming;
Others (like that extraterrestrial Tom Delay) don’t think so.
But the proof, it seems to me, will be in the pudding---
Or in this case---
In the pyrotechnics.

Doomsday is a damn big word to use, whether in speech or writing.
People seem to be enhancing themselves when they say it.

So we munch our scrumptious cheeseburgers, which in the United States produces 200 million tons of carbon per year.
That much carbon could make a super-duper diamond.

We don’t worry too much (I started to write sweat) about Global Warming…
YET.

 
 
 

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND OIL!
 
 

The Sun Also Sets
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV — the sun.
Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.
To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.
And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.
Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.
Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.
Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.
This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.
Tapping reports no change in the sun's magnetic field so far this cycle and warns that if the sun remains quiet for another year or two, it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.
Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." But he and his colleagues need better equipment.
In Canada, where radio-telescopic monitoring of the sun has been conducted since the end of World War II, a new instrument, the next-generation solar flux monitor, could measure the sun's emissions more rapidly and accurately.
As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun.
For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.
R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales."
Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."
Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."
"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."
In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov made some waves — and not a few enemies in the global warming "community" — by predicting that the sun would reach a peak of activity about three years from now, to be accompanied by "dramatic changes" in temperatures.
A Hoover Institution Study a few years back examined historical data and came to a similar conclusion.
"The effects of solar activity and volcanoes are impossible to miss. Temperatures fluctuated exactly as expected, and the pattern was so clear that, statistically, the odds of the correlation existing by chance were one in 100," according to Hoover fellow Bruce Berkowitz.
The study says that "try as we might, we simply could not find any relationship between industrial activity, energy consumption and changes in global temperatures."
The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."
But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

WAR OR PEACE?


HAS John McCain FLIPPED HIS WIG?


Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war.

Jonn McCain



Our armed forces will fight for peace in Iraq, a peace built on more secure foundations than are found today in the Middle East.

John McCain



Q: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years---

(cut off by McCain)

McCain: Make it a hundred.


"..so long as American forces are tied down in an unwinnable war in Iraq, there is little hope of winning in Afghanistan."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
February 12, 2008


It will be up to the American people (and electronic voting machines) whether a hawkish Bush clone will be elected as the next U.S. president---
Or a more diplomatic statesman who doesn't want to sing Bomb, bomb Iran or dance to the tunes of the powerful Pentagon, Corporate Masters, and Lobbyists.
McCain like the Long War Decider President believes that Iraq must continue to be occupied until there is...
VICTORY?


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!